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It’s easier to buy counterfeit than real goods
Counterfeit goods appear everywhere, from popular markets to luxury trade centres, which are still beyond government agencies’ control,” noted Nguyen Thanh Binh, Chief Representative of the HCM City office for National Office for Intellectual Property (NOIP).
Popular counterfeit goods
According to Nguoi lao dong, it is easier to buy counterfeit goods than real goods, because counterfeits are available at popular markets plus big supermarkets and luxury shops.
Most recently, Toan Thanh Company, the importer and distributor of White Care shower cream discovered that many products bearing the brand White Care at some supermarkets, convenient stores and groceries are counterfeit. Winco, the authorized representative of Homeland, which is developing the US Magic Bullet brand in Vietnam, discovered a counterfeit blender with Magic Bullet brand at a home appliance shop in Hanoi and another store in HCM City.
A representative of a company that specializes in importing products with international fashion brands admitted that up to 90 percent of the products available on the market are counterfeit.
Domestic fashion companies complain that their products have been imitated on a massive scale. Representatives of Viet Thy, FOCI and Ninomaxx all claimed that if they launch collections today, imitations will appear in several days with prices equal to a half that of real goods.
According to the HCM City Market Control Sub-department, the volume of counterfeit goods discovered in the first four months of 2010 increased by 30 percent in comparison with the same period of 2009. The latest survey by the Vietnam Association for Standards and Consumer Protection concluded that 62 percent of consumers have bought counterfeit goods.
Counterfeit goods diversified
Cosmetics have been most imitated recently. The HCM City Market Control Sub-department discovered 300,000 counterfeit cosmetic products a month at one point. Hanoi is where most imitated cosmetics are traded.
A survey on imitation goods conducted by Nielsen showed that 47 percent of pharmaceutical and cosmetic products in Hanoi are counterfeited.
A L’Oreal representative noted that along one road in Hanoi alone, there are two or three shops that sell counterfeit goods, advertising discounts of 50 percent off in order to cheat customers.
Other products have also been imitated, such as green tea, instant noodles, electric wire and safes. In April, government agencies discovered and seized nearly 4000 units of counterfeited HP products in Hanoi and HCM City.
Director of the Competition Administration Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade argued that one measure to fight counterfeit goods is that people need to become smart consumers who say no to counterfeits. Consumers have the right to refuse the products with low quality, and when do so, they protect their interests.
vietnamnet, NLD
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